


Freckled smiles

by IcyPheonix



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Bullying, Gen, Physical Abuse, minor appearances from other characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:49:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26305156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcyPheonix/pseuds/IcyPheonix
Summary: Naoki makes a fateful decision one day, one that'll alter not only his life, but that of Aichi Sendou as well.aka Naoki decides to step in when Aichi's being bullied instead of walking away all those years ago
Relationships: Ishida Naoki & Sendou Aichi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Freckled smiles

**Author's Note:**

> I've been wanting to do something with the idea of 'what if Naoki did befriend Aichi when they were kids' for a while  
> And after the most recent -If- episodes I decided I should write this cause Aichi deserves an AU where he gets to be happy for once.

"Oi, Naoki!"

Naoki felt frozen in place as he watched the scene unfolding before him. About four or so of his schoolmates were standing, gathered around another boy, one of them holding him by the collar of his shirt. The boy stared at the ground, blue eyes turned down and so, empty, as if he had lost the will to do anything. His uniform was dirty and dusted up and bruises and scuffs marred his face and hands. There was even a bandage plastered to the side of his face, a sign that this clearly wasn't the first time that this had happened. And indeed it wasn't. Naoki had seen them, often from the corner of his eye, flicking and throwing things at the boy during class, pushing him around before and after school when they thought no one was looking, stealing his things or tossing them in the garbage bins.

' _It's not my business,_ ' he'd told himself as he turned a blind eye and looked away. He wasn't going to get involved, didn't need to make his reputation even worse.

"Come on, we got a game going," said one of them, gesturing for Naoki to join them. "If he falls over you get one point, if he cries that's ten points. And whoever gets the most points wins."

He felt rooted to the spot as he heard them laughing and one of them pushed the boy, shoving him as they let go of his collar and sending him stumbling into the wall.

' _This isn't my business,_ ' he'd always told himself. ' _I won't get involved._ '

But, they wanted him to get involved, to join.

Run, he should definitely run and not get involved and make it worse. After all, this whole thing was stupid. What fun was there in doing, all this? But his legs refused to respond, refused to move and carry him away from there.

Instead, he found himself moving towards the scene, towards the boy who stared at the ground with empty eyes. The small group spaced out a bit as Naoki neared him, hands stuffed in his pockets. He stopped right in front of the boy and studied him intently. What was the boy's name again? Sen...dou? Something like that.

Messy blue hair fell over his face, hiding his eyes and his shoulders were hunched, as if he were trying to curl up and in on himself. A hand slipped out of Naoki's pocket and the boy flinched, almost instinctively.

Naoki clenched his jaw tightly as his hand balled into a fist at his side. He raised it and then, swung, and it connected, with the jaw of the brat to his left and sending him stumbling backwards.

"So, how many points is that?" he asked, turning and putting himself between Sendou and the rest of the bullies.

"Hey what the hell dude?" exclaimed the bully he'd just hit, who was rubbing his jaw with one hand.

"You're not supposed to hit me! You're supposed to hit him!"

Naoki snorted, "Naw, that's lame. So, who's next?"

He knew he shouldn't have done it, shouldn't have started fighting like this, shouldn't have thrown that punch. But in that moment as he looked down at Sendou, broken and beaten and at the mercy of these jerks, something welled up inside him. Something hot that made his blood burn. He was a loner, he wasn't supposed to get involved in other people's problems. But this time, for this kid, maybe he'd make an exception. Maybe he'd get involved, after all if he didn't, who would?

Of course, while Sendou might not have fought back, the bullies sure did and the next thing Naoki knew someone had hit him and he stumbled back, almost crashing into Sendou. His cheek stung something fierce and he reacted without thinking, swinging out with a fist. It connected to a face with a painful thud and came away wet. He looked down at his hand, then up at the bully and realized that he'd just bloodied his nose.

Oh he was going to get in SO much trouble. If he didn't get expelled for fighting it would be nothing short of a miracle.

Unfortunately, he was outnumbered about 4 to 1 (he didn't count Sendou in the numbers because Sendou didn't fight, ever) and soon he was the one being used as a punching bag. He managed a few well aimed swings in before something hit his legs, knocking him to the ground. Then, hands grabbed him by the arms, pulling him back to his feet.

Naoki grunted, trying to wiggle and pull free, but they held fast, piling on him and holding him in place.

"You know we tried to be nice," said the ring leader, the one who'd invited him over in the first place. "We thought you were cool."

Thwack!

A fist collided with his stomach and Naoki doubled over, or as much as he could while being restrained.

"But you're a loser just like Sendou."

Another strike, this time colliding with his jaw.

Apparently, it was his turn to become the human punching bag, Sendou now forgotten and ignored as they turned their attention to him. This must have been his punishment for helping, for getting involved, he thought as blow after blow rained down on him.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity his arms were released and Naoki dropped like a sack of potatoes to the ground, groaning in pain. He was definitely going to be a walking bruise by the next day, heck by that evening.

Their footsteps hurried away from him, as if they were running away, though with the ringing in his ears he couldn't hear what they were saying, or anything.

He grunted as he fought to control his limbs again, every little movement hurt and sent pain shooting through him. For a bit he just lay there, catching his breath and trying to will the pain away, or something, so he could stand.

"A-are..." A soft voice came from behind him, followed by the shuffling of shoes near his head. Then, Sendou's face came into view as he crouched down beside him, eyes wide with concern, the first spark of emotion Naoki had seen in him since, well ever.

"Are you ok?" he asked in a soft voice, hands gripping his knees tightly.

Naoki groaned as he rolled over, flopping onto his back with a grunt and groan. "Yeah, I'm totally fine." he replied with a forced smile. It was a bold faced lie, he was not fine by any definition of the word. Everything hurt and he was pretty sure he was bleeding now too.

"Why?" asked Sendou.

"Hm?"

"Why me? Why help me?"

Naoki gave a sort of shrug. "I 'unno. Cause they're jerks an' they're stupid."

For a moment silence hung between them, Naoki still gasping for breath and wincing in pain and Sendou in thought. Then, Sendou's hands grabbed his, pulling him to his feet, or at least into a sitting position.

"...should go," he said.

It was true, the longer they hung out around the school the likelier it was they'd be found, and Naoki wasn't sure he wanted to deal with those questions.

Slowly, Naoki pulled himself to his feet, staggering to keep his balance as he swayed on the spot. He took a half step and stumbled, legs nearly giving out under him. Ah, this was worse then he thought. But he was tough, he could manage, he could get home on his own. Two steps later and he was quickly proven wrong as he nearly ate dirt again. Luckily, Sendou caught him before he fell.

"Umm...let me...help." he said, and before Naoki could even think of protest, he was leaning against Sendou's shoulder, one arm wrapped over the smaller boy's shoulders for support while Sendou held onto his middle.

The walk was slow and awkward as they leaned on each other for support, Naoki more than Sendou, and it wasn't till they were at least half way that he realized they were not going to his place. He wanted to open his mouth and ask where they were going, but changed his mind, talking was to much work at the moment. So he walked, though it was more like a stagger, his legs shaking.

"Why do they pick on ya anyways?" he asked.

Sendou shrugged half heartedly. "Dunno."

"Eh, they're a bunch'a jerks anyways," replied Naoki with a huff.

"Why did you help me?" asked Sendou again.

Now it was Naoki's turn to shrug. "I'unno. I guess...cause someone had'ta, right?"

Sendou looked back at the ground, watching his feet as they walked.

"Thanks," he said quietly, and Naoki was sure he saw a tiny smile tug at his lips.

Eventually, through great effort on their part, they came to a stop at what Naoki figured had to be Sendou's home. Still holding Naoki up, Aichi pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"I'm home!" he called, shocking Naoki with how loud his voice could be.

"There you are Aichi! I was beginning to worry and-"

CRASH! Something shattered and Naoki looked up to see a woman, presumably Aichi's mother, looking at them with a horrified expression, the cup she had been holding now in pieces on the floor at her feet.

"Oh Aichi, honey, what happened to you?" she exclaimed, swooping down on the pair of them in an instant. "The both of you. Where you in a fight? You two look awful. Come on, into the kitchen with you so we can get you cleaned up."

For the first time since they left the school, Aichi let go of Naoki's arm. They scrambled to slip out of their shoes, Naoki all but kicking his off, before Aichi grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards the kitchen, avoiding the mess of broken ceramic and tea on the floor. It was strange, to be in someone's house like this, mainly because he'd never been over at anyone else's house, outside of being dragged to family friend's houses.

They sat quietly in the kitchen as she fished out something from a cupboard, which she set on the counter before going to clean up the mess in the hallway. As Naoki looked around, he spotted a pair of blue eyes watched around the corner of the doorway, and fixated firmly on him.

"What did you do to my brother?" accused a girls voice as the owner of the eyes, a girl even younger than him with strawberry blond hair, stepped into the doorway, hands on her hips.

"E-Emi!" squeaked Aichi. "It's not, he didn't-"

"Don't cover for him Aichi. He looks like a real jerk and a meanie."

"Hey! That ain't fair. It was those other jerks that did this," snapped Naoki, just about jumping out of the chair. He may have been a loner and antisocial, but he wasn't a bully.

The girl, Emi apparently, scrunched her face up as she studied him closely, seemingly trying to decide if he was a good person or not.

"Emi that's enough," said Mrs. Sendou, placing a hand on the little girl's head. "Let our guest be." She then turned to Aichi and Naoki, who had settled back in his chair, arms folded over his chest in a huff. "Is this true, did you get into a fight?"

Aichi went quiet as he buried his hands into his lap and shifted his feet about nervously as he looked down and away from his mother.

"Aichi..."

"It's not his fault," said Naoki finally. "It was the bunch'a jerks that started it. Sendou didn't do nothin'."

"Is this true?" she asked and Aichi nodded silently. Mrs. Sendou sighed heavily before opening up what Naoki now realized was a first aid kid. "Well, hold still and let's get you cleaned up."

Tenderly, she dabbed at Aichi's injuries, at the bruises and scrapes. She peeled off the cheek bandage and replaced it with a clean new one, after first cleaning his face up of course. "Now, why don't you go and put on some clean clothes," she said, patting Aichi's head softly.

Aichi hesitated for a moment, looking over at Naoki before hopping off his chair. Now that he was, mostly, cleaned up and safe and sound, Aichi looked, happier and more relaxed somehow. His shoulders were no longer hunched up and he didn't have that blank, deer in the headlights sort of look anymore. He seemed softer now, and more at ease.

"Now, it's your turn mister," said Mrs. Sendou and a partly startled, partly pained squeak loosed itself from Naoki as something cold yet soft touched his cheek, with stinging results. "I'm not sending you home without first cleaning you up," she said, continuing to clean and patch up his scrapes. She was quiet as she worked, taking every flinch and yelp in stride. "Aichi's never brought anyone home before," she said, taking one hand gently to clean the scrapes on his knuckles. "So you must be something special."

"'m nothing special," mumbled Naoki. He was just in the right place at the right time, or right place at the wrong time all things considered.

"Well then, Mister 'Nothing Special' what did happen?" she asked. "Because I don't think I have the full story yet."

"It was just a bunch'a jerks like I said," muttered Naoki.

"And if it was my son they were picking on, what happened to you? Because I don't think you simply tripped," she said.

Naoki opened his mouth to speak, only to shut it again without so much as a word said. "I might have...picked a fight with them," he muttered eventually, looking down at his feet. "When they tried to get me to join in."

"Ah, so that's what happened. A knight in shining armour came to the rescue but got hurt as well."

"M-mom!"

Naoki's head whipped around to the doorway where Aichi, now changed out of his school uniform, was standing, cheeks a very vivid shade of red.

His mother just laughed. "Well you got back fast."

Naoki squirmed in his seat, wishing he could sink down and turn invisible. He was no hero, certainly not a knight in shining armour. He hadn't done anything that heroic. He'd just, acted on impulse.

"So Aichi, are you going to introduce me to your friend?" she asked, digging around through the first aid kit.

"O-oh, this is, um," Aichi bit his lip as he looked at Naoki. Oh, that was right, he'd never really introduced himself had he?

"Ishida. Ishida Naoki."

"Well, Naoki-kun, it's nice to meet you, and thank you for helping Aichi out. However," Naoki gulped nervously. "I'm going to need to talk to your parents." He jumped abruptly as she touched his cheeks, pressing a bandage like Aichi's over a fresh scrape.

Naoki gripped his knees tightly as he sat in the back of the car, Aichi beside him and Emi bookending the trio. Mrs. Sendou had insisted on making sure he got home safely, which meant driving him home.

' _Mom's gonna kill me,_ ' he thought, trying to calm himself. Getting into a fight, his parents were going to be so mad. He was absolutely going to be grounded when they found out, and there was no way they weren't going to find out. Not now.

"Are you ok?" asked Aichi quietly, touching his arm lightly.

"I guess. Not looking forward ta being grounded though."

"Grounded?"

Naoki nodded, "I'm so grounded after this." He pointed to the bandage on his cheek.

Aichi was quiet for a moment before a tiny smile kept across his face as he looked at Naoki.

"What are you smiling for?" asked Naoki. "It's not funny."

"We match now," replied Aichi, pointing at his own bandage.

Gingerly, Naoki reached up and touched the one on his face, wincing slightly. "Yeah, I guess we do."

Standing at the door to his house had never been so nerve wracking for Naoki as he gripped his school bag. As soon as he went in the door they were going to know. He was late, he was bruised and bandaged, and Mrs Sendou was right there.

Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the door knob and pushed the door open.

"I'm home!" he called out.

"Naoki! Where have you been?" The words had barely finished leaving his mouth when his mother descended upon him. "Naoki what happened to you? Were you fighting?"

"No-yes-I mean-"

"Ishida-san?" Mrs. Sendou spoke up behind him.

His mother looked up from him to Aichi's mother and sighed heavily. "Oh Naoki what have you done?"

"I didn't-"

"Go wait in your room and we'll talk later."

He huffed in annoyance and puffed his cheeks out. It wasn't fair, she wasn't even letting him defend himself. Stepping out of his shoes he stomped off to his room to sulk. Behind him he could hear the adults talking, probably about him.

With a huff he flopped onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It wasn't fair.

"Mom's mad now Naoki-kun."

Oh great. Now Masaki was going to be on his case.

"Go away Nii-san he grumbled, rolling over so his back was to the door, and his older brother.

"So what'd you do this time?" he asked.

"Nothing."

The floorboards creaked slightly behind him as Masaki padded into the bedroom. "Whoa, you got in a fight. No wonder mom's pissed."

"I didn't, not really."

"Why'd you do it?"

Naoki stared at his hands quietly as he lay there, why had he stepped in to help, taken those swings at the bullies and shielded Aichi? He'd never done that sort of thing before, he hadn't even expected to help. He'd just wanted to run away and not get involved. He certainly would have been in better shape if he'd done that.

"I didn't want him to be sad," he said after a moment.

Masaki sighed and ruffled Naoki's hair with one hand. "You're so stupid Naoki-kun. A good kid, but you're really stupid sometimes."

"Go away Masaki!" he whined, trying to push him away. "You're so annoying."

Masaki laughed and patted him one last time. "Yeah-yeah. But hey, good on you for making a friend at last."

With a sigh, Naoki buried his face into the pillow.

He wasn't sure what all Mrs. Sendou said to his mother, but by the time he slunk out of his room she seemed to have calmed down a lot and was more concerned for him than anything. He even had to talk her out of taking him to the doctor's. He swore he was fine, it was just bruises, he didn't need a doctor to look him over. He didn't tell her about how earlier he could barely stand on his own, he could do that fine now so there was no point in worrying her.

"So, am I grounded?" he asked.

She sighed, "I don't know. Because you did still get into a fight, and we're going to have to take this up with the school."

"Oh."

"But I'm proud of you, standing up for a classmate like that."

Oh. Well, that was unexpected.

He was not looking forward to going to school tomorrow however. Not one bit.

The air at school the next day felt, weird, tense even as Naoki lingered in the school yard, gripping his bag tightly. It felt as if everyone's eyes were on him and his bandages, even though really only a few people stole glances as they passed him by.

"N-Naoki-kun?" A soft voice accompanied a tugging on his sleeve and he turned to see Aichi standing there.

"Oh, Sendou!" He wasn't sure which was more surprising, that Aichi had come to school, or that Aichi was talking to him. After the day before he hadn't thought Aichi was going to come back to school, he certainly wouldn't have blamed him if he stayed home. He'd wanted to stay home but his parents said no, he had to go to school. "You came."

Aichi nodded. "You can call me Aichi, it's ok."

"Wh-what, no way, we barely know each other. It would be too weird."

"You stood up for me," said Aichi, twisting his fingers together. "So it's ok with me."

Naoki stammered, flustered at the very idea.

"C-come on, we should get to class before we're late," he said, grabbing Aichi by the wrist and dragging him towards the school. He didn't even care that more people were staring this time, or whispering.

The stares however, only got worse as they stumbled into the classroom, moments before the bell rang. A ripple of hushed whispering flitted through the classroom as eyes darted in their direction, causing Aichi to shrink back behind Naoki as they made their way to their seats.

As Naoki scanned the room he spotted the bullies from the day before, a couple of which sported some bruises on their faces. So he had gotten some decent punches in after all. They glared at him and Naoki quickly looked away and took his seat.

For the first time in a long time, Aichi wasn't scared to go to class, to take his seat. He was a bit anxious of course, but he wasn't scared. Naoki-kun was there, he'd stood up for him the other day, protected him. As long as Naoki-kun was there he wouldn't be scared.

"Ishida-kun, the principal would like to see you in his office," said the teacher, looking up from the roll call sheet.

Aichi frowned and looked over at Naoki, who had gone white as a sheet at his desk.

"Naoki-kun?"

Naoki shot him an obviously forced smile, "Don't worry about it. I'll be back," he said.

Aichi wasn't sure he believed it, most people didn't get called to the principal's office for no reason, and he had been fighting the other day. Naoki's hands shook slightly and Aichi wasn't sure if he believed what he was saying either.

Aichi's stomach twisted as he watched Naoki leave the room, he really hoped that Naoki was right and that he would be back. Being left alone in class was, frightening. He slunk down in his seat a little, hoping no one would notice or pay attention to him. Without Naoki-kun there, what was he going to do? What if they tried picking on him again? His stomach twisted uncomfortably and he slunk further down in his seat, hoping that he wouldn't be sick and that Naoki would come back.

Naoki did not come back. As the period dragged on Aichi found himself watching Naoki's empty seat and the door. Every time the door opened or so much as creaked, his heart leapt in his chest in anticipation, and each time it wasn't Naoki and he deflated a bit more.

Lunch time rolled around and Aichi could only poke at his lunch and nibble it. His stomach was twisted up in knots of fear and after only a couple small bites he couldn't eat any more. Naoki-kun still hadn't come back from the office, and several more students had also been pulled and hadn't returned, the only upside was that they were the bullies.

"Naoki-kun, where are you? Did you get kicked out?"

The moment the school bell rang to signal the end of the day, Aichi grabbed his bag and bolted, slipping past schoolmates and teachers.

Naoki never did return to class and he needed to find out why. Had he actually gotten...expelled? He gripped his bag tightly as he ran, no, there was no way they could expel Naoki-kun, right? Aichi shook his head, he didn't even want to consider that line of thought. All he had to do was find Naoki-kun and ask him. Assuming of course, he could remember where Naoki lived. He'd done his best to pay attention when they'd driven to his place the day before, but getting there from home and getting there from the school were two different things.

Aichi bit his lip and clutched his bag tightly. Naoki walked to school so he couldn't live that far, so surely he'd recognize some houses soon.

"Where do you live Naoki-kun?" he wondered as he wandered through the streets. Everything looked so different from sidewalk level, so much bigger. The walls and fences were higher, he couldn't see over them to see the houses, and it would be rude to just walk onto the property.

It took some time, a lot of time really and Aichi had begun to think he'd never find it, but eventually familiar looking houses appeared, ones Aichi recognized from the drive the day before.

Gripping the straps of his bag tightly, he stared up at the house he now stood in front of, shifting from foot to foot anxiously. All he had to do was knock, it was simple, easy, and downright terrifying.

All sorts of horrible thoughts swirled through his mind. What if Naoki had gotten expelled? What if they blamed him, what if _Naoki_ blamed him? After all he'd only been fighting because of him. Ohh, he didn't want Naoki to be mad at him, that would be awful. But he'd never know unless he knocked, unless he talked to someone.

Slowly, nervously, he raised his fist, preparing to knock on the door. He'd just barely brought his tiny hand down on the door when it opened.

"Sendou?" Yellow-green eyes met Aichi's and he froze in place.

"N-Naoki-kun?" Sure enough, staring back at him from around the other side of the door, red hair and all, was Naoki.

"S-Sendou, what are you doing here?" he asked, clearly startled to see Aichi standing at the door.

"You didn't get kicked out did you?" asked Aichi before he could stop himself. "You-you left and never came back and-"

"Naoki, who's at the door?" called a woman's voice from inside.

"It's, it's a classmate," he replied quickly before reaching for Aichi's arm and pulling him inside.

"Oh? A classmate?"

Aichi stammered, rooted to the spot as he tried to figure out what to do. He'd never been over to anyone's house before. The other day when they'd driven Naoki home he'd remained in the car with Emi, even though he'd wanted to get out as well.

"Oh, Sendou-kun, what a surprise."

"Naooki-kun, wasn't kicked out was he?" The words tumbled out before Aichi could stop himself, and a bit louder than expected. "He-he never came back to class. If he got kicked out cause of me..."

"Oh, oh dear no," replied Naoki's mother, stifling a laugh behind her hand. "Is that why you came all the way here? Just to check up on him?"

Aichi's cheeks flushed red and looked down at his feet with a quiet nod. "I don't want him to get in trouble cause of me."

"Well, that was very sweet of you to come all the over here, but I should probably let your mother know where you are, before she worries."

As Naoki's mother left, Aichi lifted his head timidly to look at Naoki, who was lingering in the doorway, arms folded behind his head. "So, you're not kicked out?" he asked.

"Naw, just suspended for a couple days," said Naoki. "Cause I was fighting. But," he tilted his head slightly as he looked over at Aichi. "Those jerks got expelled."

Aichi perked up, he'd noticed that the bullies had been pulled from class as well and hadn't come back either, but much like with Naoki he hadn't been sure what had happened.

"Really? They-they did?"

"Yeah, 'least that's what I heard," said Naoki. He looked around for a moment before looking back to Aichi, who was shifting about nervously on the spot. "You, wanna hang out?"

Aichi stopped fidgeting and stared at him. No one had ever asked him to hang out before, or play with him, no one aside from Emi that is. Slowly, his eyes began to light up and a tiny smile began to spread across his face. "O-ok!"

Now it was Naoki's turn to smile, his features softening before he grabbed Aichi by the wrist and pulled him after him, Aichi just about falling over as he tried to step out of his shoes while running.

As they bounded past the kitchen door, Mrs. Ishida stuck her head out to watch them run, the phone in one hand.

"Don't worry Mrs Sendou, he's right here, playing with my youngest, you can swing by and pick him up when you need too," she said, watching as they vanished up stairs. "In the meantime he'll be fine."

Aichi could barely contain his excitement as Naoki dragged him into his room, a huge grin plastered on the redhead's face.

Despite being in the same class they'd never really interacted with each other before, not until the previous day, but that didn't mean Aichi hadn't seen Naoki around. Because he had, but he didn't think he'd ever seen Naoki smile before. In fact, he would have described Naoki as scary looking, the boy almost always looking like he had a scowl permanently etched onto his face. He was aloof and cold, not someone you made friends with. But this, seeing him smiling and looking excited, how could he be scared of this, scared of Naoki? Naoki had stood up for him, protected him, how could they not be friends?

A tiny smile tugged at Aichi's lips as he dropped onto the floor beside Naoki. For the first time in a long time, he was looking forward to going to school. The next couple days were going to be hard for sure, but once Naoki's suspension was lifted, once he was back at school as well, Aichi could hardly wait. He had someone he could hang out with, someone to talk to, a friend.

Naoki had always found it hard to interact with people, it was awkward and scary and far too easy to mess up. And people were loud and talked a lot, and apparently asking them to stop talking was rude. As such, he'd never really had friends before. The few times he'd tried had ended in disaster so he just, stopped trying. It didn't help that everyone said his face was scary looking.

But, Aichi didn't seem to be scared of him. He'd thrown punches right in front of him and yet he still wanted to spend time around him. He'd even somehow found his way over to his place just to talk to him, cause he was worried about him. It was, kinda nice really, that someone was that worried about him, that they wanted to spend time with him.

Several Years Later...

"Naoki-kun, Naoki-kun!" Naoki's head snapped up at the sound of Aichi's voice calling his name.

"Ahh sorry, I guess I spaced out again," he replied sheepishly, cheeks reddening as he rubbed the back of his head.

Aichi laughed softly, "I noticed."

"So uh, did ya want something?"

Aichi nodded, "I wanted to ask if you wanted to take a detour home today. I found a place the other day that I want to check out."

"Something new?" asked Naoki.

"Yeah. you wanna come with me?"

"What is this place?"

Aichi's face brightened. "It's called Card Capital."

Card Capital, as it turned out, was as its name suggested, a cardshop, as evidenced by the cards on the sign beside the name. A tiny bell chimed as they boys stepped inside and Naoki jumped slightly when the man behind the counter turned to address them.

"Welcome, is this your first time here?" asked the man, adjusting his glasses as he leaned over the counter, being careful not to bump the cat sleeping on the counter, inches from his arm.

"Yes it is," replied Aichi and Naoki simply nodded in response.

A smile split the man's face and he clapped his hands together excitedly. "Excellent! Well, take your time and look around, and if you need anything just let me, the manager, know."

On top of containing shelves of products, the shop also had a number of tables set up, tables around which most of the patrons were gathered to watch cardfights. One table in particular seemed to have a larger crowd than most. Inching closer, Naoki craned his neck to try and catch a glimpse of what was going on.

"Man, that's like your 5th loss already Morikawa," laughed a blond boy. "You about ready to call it off?"

"Absolutely not! I, the strongest fighter Morikawa, will win. Now fight me again Toshiki Kai!"

The brunette at the opposite side of the table sighed as he leaned back in his chair while his rather loud opponent, presumably Morikawa, pointed at him, challenging him again.

"Hey, Naoki-kun, come look at this." Aichi grabbed Naoki by the arm, tugging him away from the noisy table before he could find out the outcome of the challenge, and towards a wall of cards.

"Don't they look cool? It's called Vanguard."

"Ah, taking an interest in Vanguard I see."

Naoki yelped in surprise as the manager materialized behind them, as if summoned by their interest.

"If you'd like I could teach you how to play, I think we have some structure decks you could use to practise. But first, do any of these clans pique your interest?"

"Clans?"

The manager nodded and went on to explain about how Vanguard was split up into clans, each with different strengths and skills and types of units within.

There seemed to be everything from warriors and spellcasters, to faeries and dragons, to robots and mechs. They looked so cool!

"Is there one you like Naoki-kun?" asked Aichi. "I kinda like this one."

He pointed a set of cards on display featuring warriors clad in blue and white.

"Ah, Royal Paladins, a noble clan. A good choice."

"What about you Naoki-kun?" asked Aichi. "Are there any you like?"

"These guys look kinda cool."

"Narukami, an excellent choice, a clan of fierce warrior dragons. I think we have some structure decks for these clans," said the manager with a grin. "Misaki, can you check our stock in the back?" he called and a teenage girl looked up from her book with a bored expression. "Please?"

She sighed, closing her book as she stood up before vanishing in the back.

As the girl passed by them a chill rolled down Naoki's spine when he caught sight of her. He'd seen her at school, and she hadn't looked much happier there either. That was the scary lady that he was almost certain was part of some girl gang. Did that mean this place was run by a gang? It didn't look like it, the manager didn't look like some gang leader and non of the customers looked like that either. Most of them were kids, some even younger than him and Aichi. Still, he was going to have to keep his eyes peeled, just in case.

At the same time, the manager had stepped aside, heading over to the group Naoki had noticed cardfighting earlier.

"Miwa-kun, if you're not busy do you think you could help teach some new players?' He gestured over his shoulder to Naoki and Aichi.

"Hey, Kai-kun, you wanna take a break from fighting him and help me out?" asked Miwa, looking over at the bored looking brunette.

They both looked at Naoki and Aichi, then to the manager.

"Sure."

"Hey, you can't just bail on our fight!"

"M-morikawa, maybe you should take a break too," said his friend, trying in vain to calm him down.

At about that moment Misaki returned, a couple boxes in hand. "Here, some structure decks."

"Are you sure we can use these?" asked Aichi.

The manager just waved his concern off. "It's ok, it's just a minor write off, I can deal with it. Besides, if it helps get more people into the game then it's more than worth it."

"By the way, name's Miwa, and grumpy looking one is Kai," said the blond, gesturing first at himself then at his friend, who looked mortified.

"Miwa!"

"Don't worry, despite how he looks I promise he doesn't bite."

"M-miwa!"

Aichi laughed softly. "I'm Aichi, and this is Naoki. It's nice to meet you."


End file.
